Are you a Woman or a Pirate?
by Scarlet Turner
Summary: Scarlet Turner, the daughter of pirate Bootstrap Bill Turner, and sister to blacksmith Will Turner, is on the run from the evil Captain Barbosa and his pirates crew.
1. Flying Through Windows

Scarlet surveyed the noisy, rowdy tavern with content. She had enough money in her pocket to last her for quite a while, and Barbosa was nowhere to be found. Life was pretty good.  
Scarlet signaled to the barmaid, who shook her head in exasperation. That girl was asking for her sixth rum. Six! Most men couldn't even drink three before getting drooling drunk. This girl, for she was no older than 25 or so (young to be hanging around in these parts), could drink twice that, and not only walk in a straight line, but she could talk, and actually make sense. Like she'd only had one, not six. Still, she was a paying customer, and when she was kept in a good mood, she paid and tipped well. So the barmaid didn't complain about the short, red-haired girl. She simply brought out the rum.  
Scarlet nodded her appreciation when the rum came. She was tucked in a corner, set back from the noisy, brawling action of the tavern. The Faithful Bride was as good a place as any to make friends as well as get a dagger in your back. But Scarlet was happy, something that hadn't happened very often in her short life. She leaned back in her chair, propping her boots up on the table, and downed half of the mug of rum in one gulp. She sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment, enjoying hearing the sounds of the tavern, somehow and oddly more peaceful than silence. Then a tense silence did fill he air, and Scarlet opened one eye experimentally. Standing, there at the door, was none other than Captain Barbosa, along with several of his pirate crew. Outside, it looked as though Scarlet couldn't care less. Inside, Scarlet was scared stiff. Her father had died at the hands of Barbosa, and she was sure that this was to be her fate as well, should Barbosa get his hands on her.  
Scarlet stood, and as soon as Barbosa was looking the other way, she bolted for the window, stepped up on a chair, hopped onto the table beneath the window, and launched herself out the window. She meant to roll as soon as she hit the ground. But she never hit the ground. In stead, she fell into a man, knocking him off his feet. He hit the ground, Scarlet soon following suit.  
"What the devil?" The man said, sitting up.  
"Ouch." Scarlet mumbled, not wanting to move. Landing on cobblestone streets in an unprepared fashion is quite painful.  
"Are ye a'right, lass?" The man asked, bending over her.  
"Why did you have to be under that window?" Scarlet lamented.  
"Till ye came flyin' out o'the window, I hadn't the foggiest that it'twas even there." The man gave a half grin.  
Scarlet held up her hand, and the man grasped it, pulling her to her feet. Once she standing and had brushed all of the street-dust off herself, he held out his hand. She clasped it.  
"Jack Sparrow." He said.  
"Scarlet." She said.  
"Scarlet.Who?" Jack questioned, waving/rolling his hand in the air.  
"Never ye mind what me name might be. S'none o'yer damned business. Thankee for ye help, now fare thee well." Scarlet made to leave, but was jerked back. Jack had taken hold of her arm.  
"Now hold on there, lass. Why're ye in such a hurry?"  
Scarlet put her hands on her hips as best she could. "I'm running away." She stated.  
"I can see that." Jack replied. "What I meant was, why are ye runnin' away?"  
"Ba-" Scarlet was cut off by boots pounding around the cobblestone corner.  
"Barbosa." Jack said, all amusement evaporating in a second.  
"Jack." Barbosa said, looking mildly surprised. "It seems yet again that you have something that I want."  
"Her?" Jack said, looking at her with distain, like he was seeing some hideous, pitiful creature for the first time. "What d'ye with the likes of 'er?"  
"None of yer damned business. Just 'and 'er over, and I'll remember the next time I be wantin' t'kill ye."  
Jack narrowed his eyes and let go of Scarlet. "Do you realize that you have just made me a very angry man?" Jack asked Barbosa.  
Barbosa shrugged. "I care because..?" He asked, waving his hand in the same manner that Jack had just done.  
Jack pulled the gun out of his belt and unsheathed his sword. Scarlet proceeded to do the same. Jack winked inconspicuously at her. "Ye've one very important thing, mate." He said to Barbosa.  
Barbosa rolled his eyes. "I know, I know.."  
"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." Jack grinned. Then he and Scarlet raised both sword and gun, glaring at Barbosa's men. Then, just as it seemed they were about to attack, both Jack and Scarlet turned tail and ran. Barbosa's men, once they realized what had happened, began to pursue, but Barbosa stopped them.  
"Let 'em go." He said. "Just find the Pearl, and we'll get the girl lads, ye'll see." 


	2. A Dark Alley

About a half an hour and two miles later, Jack and Scarlet were leaning against an alleyway wall, gasping for air. They had just run from Barbosa's men, and that can keep you going for quite a while.  
"What did," gasp, "you do," gasp, "to make Bar-" gasp, "-bosa so," gasp, "bloody angry?" Jack finally managed to get out.  
"Tell yeh," gasp, "when I," gasp, "catch me breath." Scarlet gasped back.  
So they leaned against the wall, gasping for air like fish out of water, and jumpy, thinking that any second Barbosa and his men were going to come pounding around the corner.  
When Scarlet could finally speak without gasping between every two words, (which was sooner than Jack) she asked, "Why'd ye stay? Ye could've just as easily let go of me arm and run. That would've saved us both plenty o'trouble."  
Jack nodded his head, and then shook it, still breathing hard. "Say, I don't know, ye remind me of a friend, ye had nice eyes, I didn' want ye to come of any trouble, take yer pick."  
Scarlet sat and thought for a moment. "So what were ye doin', standin' under that there window? Why not another window?"  
"Me'n some friends were 'avin' a coupl'a drinks an' I needed some fresh air. 'An don' look at me thataway, I was only getting' a bit of air."  
Scarlet rolled her eyes. "But why right there? It's so bloody far away from th'main door. And there're plenty other windows t'stand under."  
It was Jack's turn to roll his eyes. While he began to declaim his thoughts on the fact that he had not chosen that window with the intention of breaking Scarlet's fall to Scarlet, she took a good look at the pirate, for she hadn't yet had the chance to do so.  
He was taller than she was, but then again, so was most everybody else. He was wearing a bandana as red as her hair, with a tri-corner hat over it. There were beads intertwined in his long black hair, and he had lots of gold teeth. His clothing seemed like that of most other pirates she had known, folded down boots, mismatched pants, shirt and vest, and a greatcoat to top it all off. Thinking on his appearance for a moment, not only did he seem familiar, but she realized that what she had been calling mismatched or common for a pirate, was really in comparison to her father, the only pirate she had really known well and liked.  
Lord, I miss you dad. She thought.  
"Yer not listenin'." Jack's indignant statement broke though her thoughts.  
"Yer right, I'm not." Scarlet said. "Now, again, I thankee for yer help, but I must be off."  
She began to walk towards the entrance of the alley, but Jack hopped up and stood in her way. "And where d'ya think yer goin', lass?" He asked.  
"Back to me room at the inn." Was Scarlet's reply. She moved to step around him, but again, he got in her way.  
"What I meant was, yer not goin' anywhere. Ye look strangely familiar to me. Have we ever-"  
"No!" Scarlet said quickly. "No, we haven't, I'd've remembered."  
"And I've never threatened ye before?"  
"Again, I'd've remembered or killed ye."  
"Well," Jack said, fingering his beard, "I can't put me finger on where I know ye from, and since I've let important people go in the past due t'that, yer just goin' t'have t'come wiv me, till I remember."  
He said this in a manner that didn't even suggest that Scarlet had a choice in the matter.  
"And if'in I don't want t'go with ye?" She asked.  
"I can get ye a job on a pirate ship." Was his reply.  
Which instantly changed her mind. She had been looking for a job on a ship for nearly a year now without success. So while she was daydreaming about finally getting a real pirate job, Jack ran out of the alley to investigate the boot steps he'd just heard, and came running back almost just as quickly. Unfortunately, he didn't see Scarlet's foot, so he tripped over it, falling into her and pinning her against the wall. Trying to untangle themselves, a lantern light shone into the alleyway just as Scarlet and Jack got disentangled.  
Three men came up, and Scarlet expected them to start fighting, or something of that nature, but instead they began to hug and exchange backslaps with Jack, calling him "Cap'n Jack.". Then, with meaningful glances at Scarlet, they began to nudge and wink at Jack, who was turning redder by the moment. As he tried to explain why he had been found under the circumstances that he had, Scarlet overheard one of the men say to Jack,  
"Where's ye find a good 'un like 'er?" Within a second Scarlet had grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled his face down to her level (which was all of 5'4") and put her gun to his head.  
"I dare ye to say it again, laddie." She growled in his face. The man just stared at her, so she let go of his shirt and put the safety on her gun.  
"Gents," Jack said in a slightly uncomfortable tone, "this is Scarlet. She's just as much a pirate as any of ye lads, so treat 'er like one."  
One man, heavyset with gray hair and beard, began to mutter. "I know where yer goin' with this, Jack. It's cursed bad luck just to have one woman aboard. But two? Terrible bad luck to have a woman aboard."  
Jack leaned over and whispered in Scarlet's ear, "Don't mind him, he's a bit superstitious."  
Scarlet raised her eyebrows. "A bit?"  
Jack just winked. "A'right lads, back to the Pearl. We gotta leave soon, if we're t'arrive in Port Royal by t'morrow. Hop to it!"  
Then it all came back in a flood of memories. Jack had been the captain of the Black Pearl, young to be a captain at the time. She'd been disguised as a cabin boy when Barbosa led the mutiny, which her father had resisted. It had earned him a trip to the bottom of Davie Jones' locker tied by his bootstraps to a cannon, leaving Scarlet fairly defenseless and without cover. She shook her head, and resolved to go with Jack, remembering his kindness to her and her father.  
Well, it could be worse, she thought. Much worse. 


	3. Tugging

"Welcome to the Black Pearl, lass." Jack said with a proud grin. He loved his ship. Scarlet nodded. It felt good to be back on the ship she had practically grown up on.  
"Hasn't changed much." She said, forgetting that nobody remembered her or knew who she was.  
"Eh? Come again?" Jack asked, looking puzzled.  
"This ship, it hasn't changed much in thirteen, fourteen years. Ye'd've thought it've changed a lot by now, 'specially after Barbosa'd had it a few years."  
Jack stopped and turned to face Scarlet. "Where do ye know all this from. Was yer pa a pirate on me ship some years back or sommat?"  
"Yeh, an' me as well." Scarlet replied, putting her hands on her hips.  
"Well, what happened to 'im? He die?"  
Scarlet nodded. "Was tied by 'is bootstraps to a cannon, sent to Davie Jones' locker, he was."  
Comprehension dawned on Jack's face. "Bootstrap Bill." He said. When he was Captain of the Pearl before Barbosa's mutiny, there'd been a little cabin boy of nine or ten, who always had been hanging around with Bootstrap Bill. Scarlet was the boy, he realized, whom the crew had called Sam. But Sam was a boy. Scarlet was obviously a girl (not that she had a large chest or anything like that, but it was enough to definitely tell). So she had probably disguised herself as a boy. But how had she kept it a secret from a ship full of men? Well, she had had her dad's help, at least until he'd died.  
Jack shook his head.  
"Suit yerself, Cap'n." Gibbs said, turning to go.  
"No wait! What?" Jack spun around, nearly hitting Gibbs.  
"D'ye want to put out o'port or not?" Gibbs asked exasperatedly.  
"What?" Jack was confused. Scarlet was a girl, though she'd been a boy, and now his crew was asking him questions that caught him off his guard. "Why does it seem that every single person is out to get me?" Jack thought out loud.  
Gibbs smiled. "They are. Took ye long enough to realize that."  
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Now, Gibbs, what were ye sayin'?"  
"D'ye wants to put out o'port now or in th'morinin'?"  
"Now. The tide and wind are good, no tellin' when they'll coincide so nicely next."  
"Aye, Cap'n. A'right, ye scurvy knaves of pirates, listen up!" Gibbs called, and all the pirates within earshot looked up.  
Jack smiled. He always felt good when his ship was about to leave the harbor. He turned to say something to Scarlet, and found her to be gone. He looked about, and spotted her sitting on some ropes near the top of the mainmast. Damn, she's fast, he thought. It took most pirates a minute or so to get up there that fast. Then again, she'd been on the ship before.  
"Oy, Scarlet, come down 'ere fer a second." He called.  
Scarlet pulled herself up and began scurrying dow the rigging faster than any person Jack had ever seen.  
"Cap'n?" She asked, smiling, her hazel eyes shining.  
"Happy to be back?" Jack asked.  
"More than ye'll ver know."  
"Well, lass, ye'll need to pick out a spot in the crew's quarters afore too long."  
Scarlet nodded and turned to go.  
"Oh lass, one last thing."  
Scarlet turned back around.  
"Don't let 'em get to ye. They gave Annamaria a run fer her money when she first joined on, tough as she is."  
"Heh," Scarlet laughed, "I'd like to see 'em try."  
  
* * *  
*  
  
"Cap'n, th'new girl's doin' sommat odd." Jib Jim (Short for Jibbering Jimmy) came up to Jack, a worried look on his face.  
Jack folded the spyglass he'd been looking through and turned to Jim, "What d'ye mean, "sommat odd"?"  
"C'mon, Cap'n ye gotta see fer yerself."  
Upon arriving in the crew's quarters, Jack looked around and spotted Scarlet on the top hammock-bunk on a corner tugging at something inside the small wooden locker attached to the wall. With a puff of dust and a sound of splintering wood, Scarlet fell back into the hammock, a small board in her hand. She tossed it aside, and began grouping in the locker again. She obviously found what she was looking for, because she began to tug again. After a minute or so of fruitless tugging, she put a foot on the wall beside the locker and tugged some more. When that failed, she put her other booted foot against the wall and tugged again, and with another puff of dust and a ripping sound, Scarlet fell back into the hammock with such a force that she flipped out, landed in the hammock below that (which happened to be empty) and fell out of that hammock, landing with a thud on the floor.  
She quickly hopped to her feet, examining her prize. Looking up, she saw the whole room staring at her.  
"That was me da's bunk, once. Told me this'd be there, if'n I ever needed or wanted it."  
Everyone still stared at her blankly.  
Jack cleared his throat. "Well, what a way to make an entrance. Boys," He said, addressing the crew that had gathered to watch. "This here be Scarlet Turner, daughter to our own Bootstrap Bill." A few men nodded at the mention of Scarlet's father. "She'll be workin' with us, from now on."  
A few of the men closest to Scarlet either shook her hand or gave her a slap on the back. Scarlet mumbled a thanks, a little embarrassed. The little bag was still clutched in her hand. 


	4. The Chase Around Port Royal

All the thumping and commotion brought most of the crew from above deck to the crew's quarters, having never heard quite a ruckus of the like before.  
  
"Ah, and the rest of me villainous crew arrives. Gents, meet Scarlet, newest pirate aboard the Pearl."  
Many of the newcomers cheered, for they needed the help on the ship, however small. They too began to congratulate Scarlet.  
After a minute or so of this, Jack finally shouted over the din, "Aright, back on deck, the lot of ye. Give the lass some room to breathe."  
"I'm not a lass." A few of the men closest to Scarlet could hear her mumble. They laughed, and left to do Jack's bidding, nodding to Jack, some saying, "Sir." As they passed. Scarlet made to go with them, but Jack stopped her.  
"Lass, I've never seen anybody climb any rigging fast's or faster'n ye. I want ye to work just on th'ropes, seein's to how damned fast ye are."  
Scarlet grinned. "Well, Cap'n, I do love to climb."  
Jack nodded and clapped her on the back. "Then it's a good thing that's where ye'll be workin'."  
Scarlet turned, and scurried up the ladder. Jack stared after her for a moment, and then shook his head vigorously, as though to clear it, then followed Scarlet up the ladder.  
  
* * * *  
  
The Pearl arrived in the harbor of Port Royal mid-morning, much later than Jack had anticipated. The streets would be crowded, and there would be twice as many men on duty at the fort, which meant more eyes with which to see his ship.  
Scarlet was to be found up in the rigging of the Pearl, trying to keep herself awake. She was constantly shaking her head trying to rid herself of the sleep she had lacked for the past 48 hours. Looking down, she saw Jack waving at her, so she climbed over to a loose rope and slid down to the deck, landing with a thud.  
"Aright, lass?" He asked as she walked over to him, a little tips from lack of sleep. Scarlet nodded sleepily. "Good!" Jack said. Motioning for the crew to gather close around, Jack began to talk as quietly as he could.  
"Aright, gents, we've got to be quite from now on. We've got to be as unnoticeable as possible. We're not supposed to be here, but we need the supplies we couldn't get in Tortuga; I need to check in wiv a friend. Gibbs, Annamaria, Scarlet, Shorty and Andy are t'come ashore wiv me. The rest o'ye, stay as low and quiet as possible, and be ready to pull up to the docks, pick us land-goers up, and get us out o'here as quickly as possible. Come on, get too it, we don't have all day."  
Jack made for one of the rowboats and helped some of the crew lower it into the water. Then he and those he'd specified earlier climbed down into the rowboat and began to make for shore. They landed the boat on a spit of beach some distance away from the town.  
"Remember, we've until nightfall at the latest, so do what ye need to do quickly. If'n ye see a red coat, run. Can't have any o'ye gettin' caught. Scarlet, yer wiv me, I've a friend I want ye t'meet. Get goin', the lot of ye."  
Everyone took off in different directions, heading for town. Scarlet followed Jack over a steep and swerving path that led them right into the heart of the town. Scarlet trailed after Jack, simply wandering sleepily, until she found that she no longer knew either where she or Jack was. Jack was nowhere to be seen, so Scarlet continued to wander aimlessly.  
Suddenly, she found herself on an open lane that led right up to the fort that protected Port Royal. Seventy odd soldiers, all in uniform, were milling about. Scarlet stopped, trying to get her sleep ridden brain to think. Red equals., red equals., come on Scarlet, she thought. Red equals..Run!! Just thinking the word run, a loud booming noise starts coming from the fort. Cannon fire! Scarlet realized after about a minute or so. At the same time, she saw some of the soldiers leave and retreat into the fort, while a few came running towards her. Scarlet fled, racing around first one corner, then another, trying just to loose the men, and not get hit by either bullet or cannon-ball.  
Rounding a corner, Scarlet nearly ran right into a young woman. She was a girl really, no more than eighteen or nineteen, wearing a long frilly dress. Scarlet moved to go past her, but the girl stopped her. "You're not a pirate, are you?"  
"Lass, I'm in a hurry, move!" Scarlet just about shouted.  
"Are you, or not?" The girl asked. Scarlet would have been gone by know, but this girl was both taller than Scarlet and an innocent bystander, which meant that Scarlet couldn't just stab her or shoot her.  
"Yes!" Scarlet said, exasperated.  
"Is your captain Jack Sparrow?"  
Scarlet looked at the girl questioningly. "Yes."  
"You've got to find him and get out of here!"  
"What?" Scarlet's sleepy brain was not helping the situation.  
Then the ten odd soldiers that had been chasing Scarlet came pounding around the corner.  
"Miss Turner, are you all right?" One of the men asked.  
"Yes, I'm fine." She said, slightly baffled.  
"Well, you've done us a favor by detaining her." The soldier said.  
She immediately let go of Scarlet. "I'm not detaining her for you."  
The men looked puzzled. Scarlet turned to run, but from around a corner in front of her another ten odd men came, and they began to shoot at her as soon as they saw her.  
Scarlet grabbed hold of the girl's arm and took off running, dragging her along behind.  
"What are you doing?" She shouted.  
"You're a Turner." Scarlet shouted back.  
The girl picked up her skirts as best she could and continued to run behind Scarlet. "What of it?" She asked.  
"And ye know Cap'n Jack." Scarlet replied.  
The girl stopped asking questions. They rounded another corner, and streaked past a small smithy. Out of the corner of her eye, Scarlet saw Jack, looking puzzled, standing next to a man who turned and ran into the smithy.  
"Scarlet, what're ye doin'?" He called as she ran past.  
  
Jack had been catching up with his friend Will Turner and wondering where Scarlet was when the cannon fire had started. He ran outside, followed by Will.  
"They're blowin' 'oles in my ship!" He cried.  
Then Scarlet had run past, toting Will's wife, Elizabeth behind her.  
"Scarlet, what're ye doin'?" He called.  
Will ran inside and was back out in a flash, bare sword in his hand, an axe, an empty sheath, and a sheathed sword in his belt.  
"She's kidnapping Elizabeth." Will said, and began to chase after them.  
Then the soldiers came pounding around the corner, chasing after Scarlet, Elizabeth and Will.  
"The Turners'll be the death of me." Jack muttered as he took up the chase after the soldiers. 


	5. On the Road Again or Not

Jack skidded to a halt as he came upon the docks, waving a little for balance. Looking wildly about, he spotted to his left many red-coated soldiers; to his right he saw Scarlet pushing Elizabeth along at a great speed. Behind them, sneaking quietly but just as quickly was Will, his sword aimed for Scarlet's neck. Dashing to the right, hoping to stop Will, he spotted the Pearl sliding up alongside the dock, throwing down ropes for any land-going crew member to grab hold of. Scarlet pushed Elizabeth up one, following on a nearby rope. Elizabeth was moving suddenly faster; her rope was being pulled up by someone on deck.  
Will began to climb up a third rope, but just as he began to do so, the soldiers, seemingly coming out of nowhere, appeared at the side of the ship. Scarlet looked down, seeing the men coming. She also saw Jack running up behind them, sword drawn and yelling. One man went down, and then another, before either pirate or soldier had realized what was going on.  
With and exasperated sigh, Scarlet let go of the rope she was holding onto, falling to the dock with a thud. Drawing her sword, she yelled, "Watch out, here comes a Turner!" and began to wade into the crowd of men, trying to reach her captain. Killing four men, she finally reached him.  
"Took ye long enough!" He grunted, as he ducked the swing of an oncoming bayonet.  
"I was a bit busy!" She shouted back.  
Both were standing back to back, parrying as many bayonets as possible, and killing the owners when they got too close. Scarlet could hear shouts from the Pearl, and saw pirates climbing down the sides of the ship to come to their captain and new crewmate's aid. This split second pause was quicker than lightning, but it was still slow enough to let the very tip of a bayonet through Scarlet's defenses, slashing her left arm above the elbow. With a hiss she stabbed wildly in that direction, but met only other swords and guns. She heard Jack cry out next to her but keep his ground.  
Another moment of this and I'll be dead, Scarlet thought. She very nearly missed getting cut in two by a hefty broadsword, the kind only used by knights of the olden day, and sometimes older officers in the navy. Ducking just in time, she missed being hit by the broad sword. However, she was not so lucky as to miss the small thin sword used by most common soldiers, which went into her left shoulder.  
With a cry she fell backwards onto Jack, who stumbled under the sudden impact, dropping his sword. They were both surrounded by swords and guns and soldiers, but Scarlet didn't notice. There was blood oozing from her wound. Jack was also not noticing her, for he was looking down his nose at a very familiar sword.  
"Jack Sparrow, so we meet again." Commodore Norrington said with obvious delight. "I gave you a chance once, and you come back? Why?"  
Jack put his hands in the air, pointing with both index fingers in the general direction of Norrington. "Just bringing a friend to meet a long lost relative."  
"Commodore, what is going on?" Elizabeth strode furiously up to him, followed shortly by Will, who looked like he was ready to kill someone.  
Scarlet had taken no notice of this, and was merely leaning on Jack, trying to remember how to properly breathe. She felt like she'd been hit in the chest with a hammer.  
"Lass, ye can stop leanin' on me now," Jack turned to look at her, but she nearly fell. He caught her and looked her over, quickly finding the bleeding wound. He had wounds of his own, but none so deep.  
Elizabeth put her hand over her mouth and began to tear strips off her skirt to make a bandage, but Will just stood towering over Scarlet, holding his sword to her throat. "You tried to kidnap my wife." He bent over and growled in her face. Norrington moved to size her and Jack, but Elizabeth stepped in front of him, and began to put a makeshift bandage on Scarlet. Seeing Elizabeth seemed to bring her back to her senses, for she leapt up (or at least attempted to, but merely fell back against Jack with a cry) and glared at Will.  
"Not kidnapping." She defied. "Just borrowing.without permission, for a little chat, is all. Said 'er name was Turner, askin' me questions 'bout Cap'n Jack and all.." She trailed off.  
"What does the name Turner mean to you?" Will asked his brown eyes cold and ferocious.  
" 'Tis the name of me father, and 'tis the name I carry as me own. 'En't that many Turners, not in this part o'the world, t'say the least."  
Will stared at her. "Turner? That was the name of my father as well."  
Scarlet nodded, and turned as though to leave. "Hold it right there, Miss." Norrington addressed Scarlet.  
"'En't no "Miss" in me name. Scarlet, ye can call me. Or pirate, for that's all that I am to you." She winced in pain, and clutched her shoulder.  
Elizabeth turned to Norrington. "This girl needs attention for her wound. So do all of those who fought. Can we sort this out later?" She gave him a very lamenting look.  
"No, it is their own fault they are wounded, not mine. They are responsible for their actions, and I am responsible for making sure that they get the punishment they deserve."  
"But if you let me interrupt for just a second," Jack leaned back a little, still pointing at Norrington. "We were just getting on our way. So if you'll let us to continue to do that, then I'm sure we'll all feel pretty good about this whole thing. Right?" He looked around. Those of his crew that had come ashore nodded. "Right, Scar-" He stopped, looked around, the looked down to see Scarlet lying in a heap on the ground, motionless.  
  
* * *  
  
The sound of whistles and a dog whining was all Scarlet could hear. She opened her eyes, then closed them, not believing what she saw. She was locked in a cell with some of the other pirates from the Pearl. A few were leaning on the bars, waving bones in front of a dog that was holding a key ring in its mouth. It stood just out of reach, and if Scarlet hadn't known better, she would have sworn it was smirking at them all.  
"Trust me, that dog is never going to come." She heard a familiar voice say. "I've already tried it. He's as immovable as the fort itself."  
Scarlet opened her eyes again. So she hadn't been hallucinating. Jack was leaning against a wall, watching those of his crew that had been caught try to get the keys with a bemused look on his face.  
"Meanin' no disrespect, Cap'n, but what else're we ta do?" Gibbs asked, turning away from the dog.  
Scarlet sat up, and gasped. Her shoulder felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer, split open with a hatchet, then had salt rubbed in it. "I-"  
"Feel worse than you've ever felt before?" Jack asked with a wry grin.  
Scarlet nodded, trying not to be sick.  
"Well, from the looks o'that wound, ye should."  
Scarlet didn't want to attempt looking at her shoulder, she was afraid she would faint again.  
"Is there any water? I think I need to wash this a bit." Scarlet said.  
Gibbs shook his head. "There en't nothin', save for the dog wiv the keys, and we can't even get them."  
Scarlet looked about, and saw on the other side of the bars there were in fact several buckets of water, all looking relatively clean. With an exasperated sigh, Scarlet stood, swaying a bit from the loss of blood, then slipped through the bars and made a beeline for the closest water bucket. The bars were widely spaced, and although a normal sized person wouldn't have been able to fit through, Scarlet was very small and fit though easily. The bucket wouldn't fit through the bars, so she left it just on the other side, close enough to reach through and dunk a cloth into.  
Everyone stared at her in shock. "What?" She grumbled, taking off her bandana and dipping it in the bucket. She began to dab the cloth on her shoulder, wincing as the cold water touched the wound. Everyone stared at her in silence for several moments, until Jack finally spoke.  
"Well, that solves our problems." Scarlet just gave him a dirty look and continued to dab her shoulder. "Lass, could ye do that again?"  
"What get another bucket of water?" She asked, very groggy from the loss of blood.  
"No, get the key ring hanging on that peg over there."  
Scarlet groaned, rolled her eyes, and stood, swaying a little. "Alright, alright," she grumbled. Squeezing through the bars, she shuffled over to the peg, snatched the key ring, and squeezed back through the bars.  
  
"Here, ya happy?" She asked, shoving the key ring into Jack's hands. She sat back down, putting her head on her knees. Jack jumped up and began to try to slide the key into the lock, which was difficult because he couldn't see. Finally getting it, he swung the creaky door open as silently as he could, motioning his crew out of the door. He turned to close the door again, and say Scarlet still sitting there.  
"Scarlet, lass, c'mon. We 'ave to go now!" He hissed. She sat motionless. With an exasperated sigh, Jack shook his head and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes for easier carrying. Muttering about sailors who get themselves wounded, he took off after the rest of his crew. 


End file.
